Alert on overweight children as obese show signs of heart disease at 15

By JENNY HOPE

Unhealthy food is driving the rise in obesity


Fat children are showing signs of heart disease at the age of 15, researchers warn.
A study has revealed that being overweight throughout adolescence sows the seeds of ill-health for decades to come.

It is the first to investigate the link between body mass index (BMI), waist size and fat mass of pre-teen children and subsequent heart risk factors in late adolescence.

The findings show that children who have a high BMI at the age of nine and stay fat are more likely to have high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood insulin levels – all risk

factors for heart disease– by the time they reach 15.

However, children who achieve a healthy weight are able to lower their risk, says a report online in the British Medical Journal.

The study of 5,235 children, led by Professor Debbie Lawlor from the University of Bristol, is part of a bigger research project which has tracked the health of more than 14,000 children since birth.

The researchers assessed the BMI, waist circumference, and fat mass of children between the ages of nine and 12.

BMI is a score based on an individual’s weight and height, although for children, the age and sex has to be taken into account because boys have less natural fat than girls.


The study looked at how Body Mass Index in children affected future health. Here a child is measured by a doctor (file photo)


When the children reached the ages of 15 and 16 their blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels were tested.

The results showed that a high BMI between the ages of nine and 12 was associated with signs of heart disease at 15-16, even when the analysis was adjusted for a wide range of other factors.

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘There are now alarming signs of hardening of the arteries among obese youngsters.

He said if a public health White Paper due to be published next week does not address the problem then it will be ‘found grossly wanting’.

Cathy Ross, of the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘It’s reassuring to see evidence that shows making changes to your lifestyle reduces your risk of heart disease, whatever your age.

‘Overweight children who successfully tackle their weight problem by the time they reach adolescence appear to be able to reduce their risk of heart disease, which is positive news.

‘However, we must work to prevent them becoming overweight in the first place as many obese children don’t achieve a healthy weight.

‘Helping youngsters to understand lifestyle messages can be very challenging but making sure they balance healthy eating with regular physical activity is vital.’


source : dailymail

The trick to keeping weight off for good? Eat as much as you like - and don't count the calories

By JENNY HOPE

You are what you eat: According to the new study, the quality of certain foods is just as significant as quantity when it comes to losing weight


Calorie counting is off the menu for slimmers who want to shed the pounds for good.

According to the world’s largest diet study, the best way to lose weight is to eat as much as you like... as long as you choose the correct foods, which include cold pasta, meat and nuts.

Overweight children also get slimmer when their parents stick to high-protein, low-carb cooking, researchers claim.

A £12million study concluded that the calorie-counting methods Britons have favoured for two decades are wrong, and the best way to stay slim is to eat unlimited amounts of the right foods.

They tested five diets and found that the most effective was a high-protein, low Glycaemic Index regime, which includes lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, pulses and nuts.

It is based on carbohydrates with a low GI, such as wholegrain bread, porridge and brown rice. These break down slowly during digestion, making dieters feel fuller for longer and stabilising blood sugar levels.

Cooled and cold foods also take longer to digest so have a lower GI, while cold pasta contains more resistant starch that delays digestion.

Researcher Professor Arne Astrup, of the University of Copenhagen, claimed the findings could ‘finally solve the obesity riddle’. He said: ‘For many years we have been giving people in Europe the wrong advice about how to lose weight and avoid becoming obese.

'Calorie counting hasn’t worked and may have made the problem worse because it didn’t distinguish between different types of food.

‘The new diet composition is much more effective at helping people maintain a healthy weight. It contains a slightly higher protein content and low GI foods, and you can eat as much as you want.’

The six-month Danish study involved 772 European families, comprising 938 adults and 827 children, The New England Journal of Medicine reports.


The overweight and obese adults followed a traditional 800 calorie-a-day meal plan for eight weeks, losing an average of 24lb. They were then allocated to one of five diets to see which was most effective at keeping the weight off.

The options were a low-protein, high GI diet; a low-protein, low GI diet; a high-protein, low GI diet; a high-protein, high GI diet; and a control group with no special instructions about GI foods. In the low-protein diets, protein comprised 13 per cent of energy consumed, while in the high-protein diets, it represented 25 per cent.

High GI foods are those scoring 70 or more on the Glycaemic Index – a scale of zero to 100 representing how quickly glucose is released into the bloodstream after eating.

Low GI foods are those with a value of 55 or less.

The participants were given access to free foods suiting their diet plan from a university supermarket, with barcodes to ensure they were sticking to the appropriate meals.

Those on the high-protein, low GI diet gained the least weight, while those following the low-protein, high GI diet put on the most – an average of 3.5lb.

Children also benefited, even though they never specifically went on a diet. By the end of the study, the proportion who were overweight had fallen from almost half to 39 per cent.

Researcher Dr Susan Jebb, head of nutrition and health research at the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research Centre, said: ‘It’s essentially a low fat diet, with a modest increase in protein that seems to make people feel fuller longer.

‘The low GI foods give added value. If there is a single message to the public, it’s about eating quality carbohydrates – not all carbs are the same.’


source: dailymail